Genesis 46-47 - The sweetness of reconciliation

There’s nothing better than kissing and making up, right?

When we go camping, the main idea is to go relax.

We were at camp a couple of weeks ago, and the kids were so ready to go to the lake.

So ready, they were all becoming rabid and getting into trouble.

Before too long, every kid was in trouble.

It got to the point the Drill Sgt. Big Bad Bob got involved.

Every kid sat at the picnic table and held hands until the fighting, the bickering, and everything was over.

Last week Jacob Bratcher showed us that God saves through reconciliation.

Today, we’re going to address the sweetness of reconciliation.

Big Idea: The sweetness of reconciliation

Context

Reconciliation is the resolving of differences or broken relationships.

Restoring what has been broken.

This has been Joseph’s story since we met him. There’s a ton of brokenness here.

Joseph’s ten brothers came to receive food in the famine

They don’t recognize Joseph—It’s been decades since they’ve seen him.

They think him to be an Egyptian official.

He reveals himself to them, and welcomes them into Egypt.

Jacob (aka Israel) had sent them to Egypt with Benjamin with one condition, bring him back.

Joseph decides to hold Benjamin from going home and tells his brothers, “bring dad back here.”

They go to Jacob and tell him Joseph is alive—”Don’t mess with me.”

They tell him everything that had happened, and he said, “Let’s go see Joseph before I die.”

Stand to read

Genesis 46:1–5 ESV

1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” 5 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

Leader: This is God’s Word

Everyone: Thanks be to God

The Lord spoke to Jacob and gave him confidence to go to Egypt.

He reminds him of the promise He made to Abraham

“I am God…I will make you into a great nation”

He promises that He will go with Him (v. 4a)

The presence of God is intrinsically important for the rest of the book of Genesis.

God promises that He will bring Jacob back to the promised land and Jacob will see Joseph before he dies (v. 4b)

He’ll die in Egypt, but he won’t be buried there. God will make sure of it.

Joseph loads up all 70 people of his household, and heads toward Egypt.

Genesis 46:28–31 ESV

28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen. 29 Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” 31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

This is a Hallmark moment.

Father and favorite son reunited after many years of being apart.

The look of disbelief in his eyes. The tears.

“A good while” isn’t midwestern slang—This is a long cry.

The last time he saw his son, he sent him out to his brothers in the pasture.

He never got a chance to say goodbye.

22 years of separation.

Imagine the guilt he wrestled.

Had I not sent him to the field, perhaps my son would still be alive.

The relief that filled his heart was overwhelming.

Silas’s dinosaur dream:

“I never saw my dad again…”

He wanted to call me to have that peace of mind.

Jacob said, “I can die happy now because I’ve seen your face.”

Church,

Reconciliation gives us true peace (46:30)

True peace is different than ignored feelings.

When we write people off, saying things like, “I may forgive, but I don’t forget”

That’s ignoring an issue.

The bitterness/resentment is still there.

“You don’t know what they did.”

Did they plot your death, throw you in a hole, and sell you into slavery?

Regardless of the sin that’s been done to you, reconciliation is the way to peace.

True peace is when the queue is cleared.

All debts have been settled and reconciliation has taken place.

Does this mean that the relationship goes back to the way it was?

Not always.

But it does mean that we are able to move forward in grace and in truth.

Jacob spent 22 years thinking he’d sent his own son to his death.

Joseph spent 22 years estranged from his family.

Imagine the resentment that had built up in his heart.

He saw the look in their eyes as they threw him into a pit and sold him into slavery.

Now, the Lord has established him into a place where he can provide for his family and reconcile with his family.

Transition

But will Pharaoh welcome such a large party of refugees?

Joseph’s brothers come and ask Pharaoh for land in Goshen.

Pharaoh to Joseph: “The land of Egypt is yours. Settle them in. If you know any good shepherds, give them work for me.”

Jacob meets Pharaoh and blesses him after telling him how hard his life has been.

I imagine an old-timer patting him on the shoulder or cheek.

There was no food in Egypt because of the famine, so Joseph gathered up the money.

Genesis 47:15–19 ESV

15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

All the people’s money run’s out.

Because of Joseph’s prudent leadership, they sell themselves for food.

This is their “Will work for food” speech.

Joseph bought up all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh.

Everyone but the priests became a servant of Pharaoh.

Genesis 47:23–25 ESV

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.”

This agreements means they keep 80% of their crops.

Most of the time, interest rates would require 40% of the crops.

Joseph is acting with intense generosity and grace toward the people.

The rest of the crop was their’s for seed and food.

The people were happy to accept this agreement.

When I was in seminary, Dr. Oren Martin said, “Salvation is by grace, but your grade is by works.”

You can come into the kingdom and receive forgiveness free of charge, but you have to earn that grade.

RC Sproul was a Seminary professor.

One time, he had a student who came to him broken-hearted.

“Dr. Sproul, I didn’t finish the paper in time.”

“How about this? I’ll give you 100% on the paper, and you don’t have to make it up.”

The kid sobbed even more with an intensely thankful heart.

Genesis 47:26–28 ESV

26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s. 27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

The Lord has used Joseph, who’s a slave that has a criminal record and many accusations against him

To work out the abundance for the people of Egypt.

The Lord brought Joseph’s family down to Egypt and reconciled them.

He has shown Jacob and his sons absolute grace!

He has reconciled their family, and provided for their needs and the needs of a whole nation!

This is an amazingly sweet moment.

All his brother’s hatred, the slavery, the promotions, the imprisonment all leads to this moment where God shows His abundance to the people of Egypt!

Church, this shows us:

Reconciliation shows us God’s abundant grace (47:24-28)

Reconciliation is often neglected because of the unforgiveness in our hearts.

This shows us just how ungodly, (unlike God) we are.

Reconciliation is the heart of God.

This is the entire point of the gospel—God reconciling all things back to Himself.

Gospel presentation

God created everything beautiful

We rebelled against Him and fractured the relationship.

God promised reconciliation.

God accomplished reconciliation through Jesus’s death on the cross.

Jesus took the punishment for sin that we deserved so that we could be made right before God.

Jesus justified us!

Through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, we are able to be reconciled with God through faith!

When we put our faith and trust in the finished work of Christ, we are welcomed back into the presence of God.

Then, in power, Jesus rose from the dead so that we can have eternal life with God!

All of this is by God’s abundant grace toward sinners like us.

If you’re not a Christian, you can be reconciled to God today.

You can have a mended relationship with the Father.

How do we do that?

Not of your own righteousness

Simply believing in Jesus and taking a next step in faith.

Take the Next Step

Believe: God can reconcile the most broken people to Himself.

Do: Pursue reconciliation.

Start a text—Let go of bitterness and embrace forgiveness.

Who do you need to forgive?

Who do you need to seek forgiveness from?

Invite someone to be reconciled to God.

Invitation to receive, repent, and respond.